Facebook’s Mini-Player; Apple Will Drop $430 Billion on North Carolina Campus; Zoom Rolls Out ‘Immersive View’; Clubhouse NFL Draft Deal

One of the things Facebook had announced last week was ‘Project Boombox,’ which would allow listening to music and podcasts right inside the Facebook App…including Spotify. Now, techcurnch.com reports that the platform has rolled out a ‘miniplayer’ that will allow Facebook users to stream Spotify via the Facebook app on iOS and Android. The feature is available to both free Spotify users and Premium subscribers. Now, when Spotify users are listening to content they want to share to Facebook, they’ll be able to tap the existing “Share” menu (the three dot-menu at the upper right of the screen) and then tap either “Facebook” or “Facebook News Feed.” In order to use the feature, users will have to have the Spotify mobile app on their phone and a Spotify account. 

Apple has announced a step making good on adding additional facilities here in the US…a $430 billion dollar campus and research hub in North Carolina’s Research Triangle area. According to zdnet.com, it should mean about 3,0000 new jobs in machine learning, AI, software engineering, and other tech fields. Apple will also kicking $100 million to support local schools and community initiatives in the Raleigh-Durham area. Overall, Apple has set a goal of creating an additional 20,000 jobs in states across the US.

Zoom has talked about it, and today rolled out its immersive video feature, claiming it will help businesses to hold more engaging and collaborative virtual meetings. Venturebeat.com says the feature will allow Zoom meeting participants to appear as if they are in the same room together. Immersive View is really pretty much the same as Microsoft Teams’ Together Mode, which has been out for months. The host gets to choose where each participant ‘sits’ in the virtual room. Right now, Immersive view can hold up to 25 participants, and the backgrounds include a boardroom, auditorium, or a classroom. It is activated by default for all free and Individual Pro accounts. 

Clubhouse has announced a deal getting users access to chat rooms during NFL Draft Week. Engadget.com reports that its invitation only, as other Clubhouse connections, and only on iPhone…a Clubhouse Android app is weeks off. For draft fanatics, a chance to be in a Clubhouse chat with athletes, coaches, and network stars could be quite a draw. It’s a big win for Clubhouse, but the NFL may just be doing a test drive to see how it goes, and could expand to Facebook and Twitter if it does well.